Drawer suspension



June 19, 1934., A. H. ANDER$ON DRAWER SUSPENS ION 2 Sheet-Shee't 1.

Filed Feb. 9. 1934 wwm June 19, 194., A. H. ANDERSON DRAWER SUSPENSION Filed Fb. 9. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 19, 1934 UNITED STATES DRAWER SUSPENSION Alfred B. Anderson, Youngstown, Ohio, assignor to The General Fireproofing Company, Youngstown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 9, 1934, Serial No. 710,569

4 Claims.

This invention relates to drawer suspensions for filing cabinets and the like, and more particularly to a construction wherein the sliding elements are mounted on ball bearings.

One of the objects is to provide a rigid and substantial suspension construction adapted adequately to support the drawer load, when the drawer is pulled out of the cabinet, and which will also easily and noiselessly operate during drawer movement. In that connection, the invention contemplates a plurality of channel members having novel features of construction which permit this object to be carried out.

A further object of the invention is to provide simple and practical means for mounting the drawer on the suspension so that it will be locked therewith in operation, but may be readily detached in the event that it is necessary to remove the drawer from the cabinet.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended claims.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:--

Figure 1 is a-sectional'view of a portion of a cabinet and a portion of a drawer mounted on the'suspension, the latter being shown in elevation.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of one of the sus-. pension units, the parts being shown in the positions occupied when the drawer is partly withdrawn from the cabinet.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 with the parts in their relative positions when the drawer is fully withdrawn from the cabinet.

Figure 4 is a detail vertical sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure "5 is a vertical section taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a horizontal cr'oss-sectional-view illustrating the rear end of a suspension unit and the rear corner of the drawer, and showing how the drawer and suspension are interlocked. at

the rear.

Figure '7 is a vertical sectional view of an inside corner of the drawer showing, in elevation, the latch means carried by the drawer for interlocking with the suspension.

Figure 8 is a front elevation of a suspension unit with the various parts in the position assumed when the drawer is closed.

Figure 9 is a detail section taken onthe line 9-9 of Figure 2.

Similar reference characters designate co'r responding parts throughout the several'figures of the drawings.

According to the embodiment shown in the drawings, the cabinet is designated generally as A and includes the side walls B,the rearwall C and the front transverse brace C, which together with other braces defines the drawer opening of the cabinet. p The suspension unit preferably includesin its organization a relatively fixed cabinet carried track section E, a floating member F, and a drawer carrying slide G.

As will be observed from Figure 4, the rear inside wall of the cabinet is provided with a hollow upright portion 1, the same having therein, at suitable spaced intervals, a plurality of open ings 2. By reference to Figure 5, it 'may be observed that'the inside front wall is also provided with a hollow upright 3 having openings 4 there- The purpose of the openings 2 and 4' is to receive portions of the member E to mount it onthecabinet. a

Referring more especially to Figures 1 and 4], it will be observed that the fixed tra'cksection E preferably consists of a body 5 of substantially L-shaped cross-section, the same having'rigidly secured theretoyas by welding, a trackprop'erfi which will be later describedfmore in detail. The rear end of the'body 5 is provided with areacr' v wardly extending tongue 5' struck out therefrom and adapted to fit in.th'e openings 2' previously mentioned. Also, the front endof the body5is formed with the downwardly projecting tongues 5 intended to fit into the openings 4 at the in side face of the. side wall of the cabinet. Thus, it will be apparent-that the fixed memberofrthe, suspension may be readily placed in position;..by first horizontally inserting thextongue 5 in-the opening 2, at the rear of the cabinet, andlthen causing the projections 5 to register with the openings 4 whereupon the front .end of the body 5 may be pushed downwardly to cause the tongues 5 to interlock with the member 3: as shown in Figure 5. To prevent-lifting of' the front end of the member E, it is also proposed to secure the same .-to the member 3 by means of a screwor equivalent fastening 5. This screw may beplaced in position after the complete suspension is fitted in the drawer due to the fact that" it is rendered its accessible through an opening (not shown) pro- .of the'slide G and the parts D come interlocked.

vided in the body of floating member F.

It is to be understood that the entire suspension is in its completely assembled form at the time that it is placed in the cabinet as above indicated. Assuming, therefore, that it is understood that the members Fand G of the susflanges D and D respectively of the front and rear drawer carried brackets D and D Thus, the drawer maybe supported entirely by the upper flange of the slide G. 'For the purpose of interlocking the drawer with said slide, the slide is provided adjacent its rear end with a laterally projecting lug G intended to register with an opening D in the rear side wall of the drawer, thereby to be engaged by the keeper element K of a latch L carried by the inside face of the drawer, as shown in Figure '7, and exposed by an opening in the side wall of the drawer. The said latch L is preferably pressed upwardly by a spring L' and is confined in a suitable casing L which lies flat against the inside face of the drawer so as to present little or no interference to the filing ofmaterial in the drawer. The upper end of the latch L may be provided witha finger piece L3 to permit of the latch being manually depressed, if necessary, to disengage the keep K from the lug G when it is desired to release the drawer from its suspension. The keeper K prevents the drawer from sliding forwardly on the upper surface of the top flange or rail '7 of the member G. The flange D of the front bracket D is provided with a downturned tongue D adapted to fit in a recess '7 in the front end of the flange or rail 7, as shown in Figure 1. -In this manner the front end of the drawer may be also interlocked with the slide G to take some of the shear-stress from the lug G when the drawer is pushed inwardly. While the'drawer is interlocked with the slide G by latch L and G so that movement of the drawer will also compel movement of the slide G in both directions, nevertheless, when a heavily loaded drawer is pushed inwardly with considerable force, it is desirable to have the advantage of the V maythen be moved backwardly until the bevelled keeperK of the latch encounters the lug G. Whenthe drawer is moved far enough with reference to the lug G -the keeper of the latch will move to the position shown in Figure 7 and then the front end of the drawer may be lowered so that the flange D will contact with the rail '7 and 7 will be- Referring more particularly to the suspension unit in detail, it may: be. pointed out that the fixed track sectionE has its rear end flanged inward- 1y as indicated at E, Figure. ,6, thereby, to receive a suitable cushion element E either of felt or rubber so as to take up the shock of the inward thrust of the floating member F and also deaden the sound incident to contact resulting from the pushing in of the drawer and the telescoping of the several suspension parts. The track member 6 is co-extensive with the length of the memberE and includes an upper convex flange 8 and a lower con'caveflange 9. The flanges '7 and 8 form a track for a propeller ball 10, and the flange 9 cooperates with the intermediate grooved or concave portion at the upper side of the flange 11 of the floating member F to provide a runway for the anti-friction balls 12 (Figures 3 and 5). The flange 11 is also provided with a lower groove 13 which cooperates with the bottom flange 7 of the slide G to provide a runway for the antifriction balls 14.,

The bottom flange 11 of the floating slide F is formed in a novel manner to provide the intermediate runway for the balls 12 and the rimway 13 for the balls 14, That is to say, the flange 11 is formed by doubling the metal back upon itself to form a fold, the opposite sides of the fold being medially pressed together to form the bottom and intermediate grooves for receiving the balls referred to. In its general crosssectional shape the floating member F is of channel formation and includes the flange 11, the bottom or body 15, and the upper flange 16, the latter being grooved to form a runway which is a complement of the runway of the flange 7 of the member G. The groove or runway thus formed is intended to accommodate the traction ball 17. I

The central portion of the flange 16. is cut away. as indicated at l6 to.receive .and con: flne the propeller ball 10 previously referred to in such a waythat the surface of this ball bears against the runways 7 and 8 respectively of the members E and G. In other words, the propeller ball 10 which is larger than the antifriction balls 12, 14 and 17 has a tractiveengagement with the floating member F due to the fact that the upper surface of the ballis in contact with the drawer carrying slide G while the lower surface of the ball is in contact with the upper surface of the fixed flange 8 of the cabinet carried track E. The balls 12, 14 and 17 merely serve as travelling supports and spacers to assist the members in their relative movement and also to make them slide freely with reference to each other, while at the same time holding the several members interlocked against lateral separation.

- With further. reference to the anti-friction balls which provide for travelling engagement between the several members of the suspension, it may be pointed out that the balls 12, confined between the flanges 9 and 11 are held properly 5 spaced from between the flanges by means of the pins 12 carried by the wall 15 of. the floating member F. In the case of the rear ball 12 (Figures 2 and 3) it may also be noted that the rearward escape thereof is prevented by the screw abutment 12 Forward escape of the front ball 12 is prevented by lug 12 on the flange 9. In the case of the lower balls 14, the rear ball is confined between the lug 14 struck up from the flange 7 and the abutment 14. The 14 14 constitute a stop to limit the outward movement of the drawer carried member G with reference to the floating member F. And, to prevent the floating member F from moving too far forward with reference to the fixed member E, the said floating member F is provided with an abutment 18 adapted to engage with a flxed cushion abutment 19 on the inside face of the fixed member E, the abutment 19 being located between the flanges 8 and 9 of the channel 6 welded to the member E.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present suspension includes a flxed track section E carried by the cabinet and a drawer carrying slide G for supporting the drawer together with an intermediate floatingmember F which is propelled outwardly by the ball 10 at substantially half the speed of the movement of the slide. Also, suitable anti-friction balls 12, 14 and 1'7 are provided between the members E, F and G to assist in the free movement of the members F and G when the draweris moved into or out of the cabinet.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course, be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:-

1. A'drawer suspension unit including a cabinet carried track formed to provide upper and lower ball grooves, a floating member having an upper grooved flange interrupted to provide an opening, said floating member also having a bottom flange formed to provide bottom and intermediate ball groove surfaces, said intermediate surface being a complement of the lower groove of said track, balls providing an anti-friction mounting between the floating member and the track, a drawer slide having upper and lower grooved flanges, a propeller ball fitted in the opening in the upper flange of the floating member and having a tractive engagement with the upper flange of the drawer slide and with the upper flange of the track, and anti-friction balls respectively mounted between the upper and lower flanges of both the drawer slide and floating member.

2. A drawer suspension unit including a flanged drawer carrying slide and a flanged track, said slide having inwardly facing ball grooves in=the flanges thereof and said track having outwardly facing grooves in the flanges thereof, a propeller ball having tractive engagement with the completmental grooves of upper flanges of said slide and track, a floating member having an upper flange provided with an opening to receive said propeller ball, said last named flange also cooperating with the upper flange of the slide to conflne a ball therebetween, and said floating member having a lower flange provided with grooves in opposite sides thereof to form ball receiving runways respectively with the lower flanges of both the track and the slide.

3. A drawer suspension unit including a drawer carrying slide having upper and lower ball receiving flanges; a floating member having upper and lower flanges formed to provide upper, lower and intermediate ball grooves, and said upper flange having an opening; balls respectively confined between the upper and lower flanges of the drawer slide and floating member, a fixed track having upper and lower ball receiving grooves,

.balls confined between the lower flange of the track and the intermediate ball groove of the floating member, and a propeller ball mounted in the said opening of the upper flange of the floating member and having a tractive engagement. respectlvelywith the upper flanges of the drawer slide and flxed track.

I 4. A drawer suspension unit including a drawer carrying slide having upper and lower ball receiving flanges; a floating member having an upper grooved flange and a bottom flange doubled upon itself and grooved at each side to provide a bottom and an intermediate ball groove, said upper flange having an opening, balls respectively confined between the upper and lower flanges of the drawer slide and floating member, a flxed track having upper and lower ball receiving grooves, balls confined between the lower flange of the track and the intermediate ball groove of the floating member, and a propeller ball mounted in the said opening of the upper flange of the floating member and having a 

